The sound of a truck's engine roaring ripped through the quaint streets of Rosewood Creek. The quiet afternoon had now become my worst nightmare. Nate was speeding, driving with reckless abandon as he swerved through midtown traffic.

“Slow down,” my panicked voice trembled as I held onto the back seat for dear life. My heart was doing jumping jacks; everyone's adrenaline set too high as the truck barreled down the road. 

I didn’t like this. The gut-wrenching feeling of going down a steep roller-coaster, strapped in, and I was trapped. I was starting to get sick and there were no promises I wouldn’t be able to hold my barf in any longer. 

“Go faster,” Theo barked. The Alpha wasn’t himself anymore. With blatant disregard, he shouted at Nate, his stoic composure completely gone. The deep-seated hatred radiated from his core, permeating the whole truck cabin. It was like a nuclear bomb had gone off. My bond mark burned, making me wince at the pain. Theo’s dark emotions seeped into my own. I could feel what he wanted to do next— and I was scared.

“I’m going as fast as I can but there’s traffic, you brick-head,” Nate was also fuming. Under such distress, the Alpha was driving erratically, nearly hitting a curve when he took the turn too close. I no longer felt safe being a passenger with these two in the front seats.

“Please, Nate,” the desperation in my voice finally broke the Alpha from his manic behavior.

“I’m sorry, Curly.” He jerked the truck to a screeching stop. Stuck behind a whole line of cars, we waited to get through the roundabout intersection. It didn’t help that we were in the middle of town too. All things Theo didn’t care for at the moment. 

“Fuck!” The Alpha began to curse, releasing his anger onto the dashboard. What was left when his fists finally slowed was the mangled plastic frame. Triggering old fears, unconsciously, my body began to shake, my eyes watching Theo turn into someone else. Someone I didn’t know. 

“Theo…” my shaky voice did nothing to calm the rabid beast down. The whole thing jolted a faded memory, back to the first time I met him: cold eyes with an unwavering drive to fight. I thought he had changed, far from that Alpha everyone had known to fear. And the quick switch in temper now brought me to face the reality that I may have something to fear about him now.

Nate wasn’t too thrilled at his truck being destroyed, but he bit his tongue, knowing the other’s hair-triggering temper would spur on another tantrum. He slowly pulled his truck around, circling the roundabout before he made a left turn, in the opposite direction of the packhouse.

“You dipshit, you missed the exit!” Theo went ballistic once more. A heated growl stirred from Nate, the verbal barrage from Theo was pushing him past his limit.

“We have to get Remy to the safe-house,” his voice struck down with a strong cord. My brain was too racked with fear to care about my own safety. 

“It’s part of the plan, remember asshole? Let’s just get him there before we—”

“No! Turn around right now!” Theo demanded. The Alpha smashed another hole into the dashboard, creating a deep crater in the truck's interior. 

Nate looked back over his shoulders to find me clutching my seat. The hard look in his brown eyes soon wavered to concern. The Alpha temporarily regained his cool. Drawing in slow, steady breaths, he made one last attempt at reasoning with the wild beast next to him. 

“Listen, you dick, yell at me like that again and I’ll deck you. We have to get Remy to a safe place. Tyrus can wait—”

“No!” Theo exploded, attempting to grab hold of the steering wheel. Nate pushed him off, the truck swerving into the other lane, barely missing a passing car. The blaring of the horn rattled us, coming this close to a near-death experience. 

“You dumb fuck! You could have killed us,” Nate erupted in anger. The Alpha gained control of the vehicle, pulling over to the side of the road. Down the winding path of black asphalt, a canvas of dense forest encircled us as he parked. Freckles of sunlight peek through the canopy of the tall trees. The occasional car drove by, leaving us idling in isolation on the country road.

Theo could only use his fists to talk. His words were no longer an option as he smashed a deeper hole onto what was left of the dashboard. Nate had had it, snapping at Theo's blatant disregard for everything.

“You little shit.” Nate grabbed Theo’s shirt collar, shoving him against the door frame. My eyes could not unsee the horrific scene in front of me. Everything had gone to shit. Both of them clawed at each other, thrashing around in the truck’s cabin.

“Hey, stop!” I didn’t care if I sounded stupid here. The pain of them hurting each was just the same for me. They were so far gone that they had forgotten about our link to each other's bodies.

Theo smashed his hands into Nate’s face, only prompting the other to retaliate further. Nate shoved Theo hard against the door. Their eyes were filled to the brim with hate as they continued to struggle.

“Guys!” My words weren’t getting to either of them. 

Nothing. 

I tried to lean forward, hoping to intervene, but Theo roughly pushed me back.

“Stay out of it!” he demanded. 

I wasn’t hurt from the hard shove, but my body could no longer take it. Tears began to fall, uncontrollably sobbing from everything. The violence was enough to trigger such a visceral response from me. 

“Please, guys… you’re hurting me!” I screamed louder than I intended. I didn’t care to hide my tears, I just wanted them to stop. The painful blows from their tussle were aching all over my body. 

The Alphas quickly withdrew from their sparring match. Nate wiped the blood trickling from his nose while Theo sported a bruised lip. Taken aback by my outburst, the two said little to nothing, but by the looks on their faces, I could tell they were suddenly remorseful. 

Green eyes stared deep into my face before Theo looked away. A deep sigh of frustration was his only response before he left the truck, bolting towards the treeline, and headed in the direction of the packhouse.

“That stupid jerk!” Nate, also frustrated, slammed his hands into the leather steering wheel. The horns blared each time his fists made contact. 

“Damn it!” Running his hands through his hair was his way to calm his nerves all the while destroying his coiffed hairstyle. 

“He’s so fucking selfish.”

My tears were beginning to subside, but that didn’t mean I was feeling any better. My heart was torn in two. All I cared about was stopping Theo. I didn’t want him to get hurt, especially knowing how capable Tyrus was. With my body acting on its own, I felt myself being pulled into my subconscious, River was now in control. Unbuckling my seatbelt, the wolf moved to leave as well.

Nate was caught off guard, staring at deep purple eyes in the rearview mirror, watching as River made his own attempt to escape. 

“And where do you think you're going?” Nate frantically hopped out, dashing around the truck to block River from running off into the forest too.

“I’m going too!” River stamped his foot.  

‘What?’ I didn’t understand why he was acting out now, especially knowing about our safety plan. 

“What?!” Nate echoed my same thoughts. “You gotta be—no listen River I can’t guarantee your safety if you go. I—why are you acting like this?”

‘River please, he’s right. Why do you want to go? It’s too dangerous.’ I couldn’t believe I was the one warning my wolf to be cautious. ‘We have to be smart here and think about the pups.’

River’s lips quivered, tightening his fist as his own anger was brewing. 

“You—you wouldn’t understand. That shit-face asshole tried to kill us! I just want to return the favor.” It didn’t occur to me until now that River also wanted revenge. I didn’t think he could hold such a vindictive grudge, but then again I was finding out something new about him every day. The wolf had ice in his veins, cold-blooded in his ways of carrying out a personal vendetta. 

‘River…’ We were at an impasse. I wanted nothing more than to hide in fear, but all he wanted to do was fight—opposing ideologies crashing into one another. 

Nate’s eyes narrowed and River returned the same glare, crossing his arms in the hot sweltering heat. Only the whiny wisps of the cicadas broke the deafening silence.

“You're not going anywhere.” Nate drew a line in the sand.

“But Theo—”

“Who gives a shit about him? Let the bastard go.” Nate stalked closer.

“River. Please…” Nate’s eyes swirled to a hardened crimson red, Ezra tagging in to join the chaos. 

“What you’re doing is completely irrational, my love,” the gentle wolf tried to appeal to River’s sensibility. If there was anyone who could convince my wolf to do anything, it was Ezra. 

“I can’t have you getting hurt. Not you or the pups…” Ezra drew closer. With each step he took, River took one back, keeping a rather sizable gap between the two. 

River, feeling cornered, took off his hoodie, threatening to take more clothes off if Ezra came any closer.

“I’m going to shift and run there if I have to,” River drew his line in the sand too. Nothing I could say would get him to change his mind.

Ezra let out a deep grunt. With no room to negotiate, he conceded to River’s wants. 

“Why must you two be so stubborn?” Ezra pinched the bridge of his nose before he threw his hands up in the air, giving up quickly. He gestured for River to get back into the truck. My wolf huffed, holding his head high, clearly not caring about the seriousness of the situation.

“Has everyone gone bloody mad in this place? I’m tired of dealing with all these cockwombles and blasted tossers,” Ezra went on, cursing in his own way as he pulled the truck to do a u-turn, revving the engine before speeding off towards our destination.

It was futile, but I still tried to reason with my wolf. 

‘River, why do you want to do this?’ I couldn’t decide who was crazier here: Theo or him? 

‘Remy, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life is if you find a snake in your garden, you cut its head off. If you don’t, then it’ll just come back with more friends.’ The toffee wolf had come to his own conclusion about how he was going to handle the situation and I had no rebuttal. 

‘This is insane.’ All I could do was worry about what was about to happen next. It was too dangerous for us to be getting in between the pack’s affairs, especially in the condition we were in. Did River not care about our pups? I was starting to think so with the erratic behavior he was displaying now.

All I could do now was focus on the pounding of my beating heart. River soon returned control to me, and I was frantic at the idea that I would be the one to confront Tyrus.